


You know what, you're lovely

by pickyourselfupfred



Series: Fred and Ginger forever [44]
Category: Astaire/Rogers RPF, Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers Movies
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 18:30:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21342766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickyourselfupfred/pseuds/pickyourselfupfred
Summary: Their lives continue. Ginger wrote a little about this herself. I'm just filling in the pieces.
Relationships: Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers
Series: Fred and Ginger forever [44]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/179252
Comments: 10
Kudos: 8





	You know what, you're lovely

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samantha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samantha/gifts), [Love_by_dancing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Love_by_dancing/gifts), [StillAintNoGood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StillAintNoGood/gifts).

“Oh Fred, I’ve done a very stupid thing”.  
These were the first words he heard as he picked up the phone that afternoon. In the seconds before she continued images of the last couple of years flashed through his head. They’d initially spent whatever time they could in the house in the hills as they they come to call it. These brief stays had been like water in a desert to a thirsty man. The one blot on the horizon had been professional. Fred had embraced TV and had worked on a number of TV specials. Ginger too had dipped her toes into the now flourishing new medium in addition to some stage work. Consequently they’d not been able to be together for months now and even hardly had a chance to chat. Now she was phoning to tell him something he knew was his fault again but had fully expected to hear. Her next words broke into his thoughts.  
“I just got married again.”  
Boy did he know that this would come. Had he been a psychiatrist he would have been able to explain why. Ginger had a tough childhood. Her parents had split early in their marriage with her mother gaining custody of her daughter. However as a child she was virtually kidnapped by her own father. As a woman she wanted, no needed, stability and love that hadn’t always been present in her childhood. She had told Fred on many occasions how she felt guilt for her parent’s divorce thinking she hadn’t loved her daddy well enough for him to stay. This neediness for love and reassurance had stayed with her throughout her life. He knew he could and should have given her that happy, settled,  
secure life but as he hadn’t she’d been lulled into the belief that it might come from elsewhere.  
“So baby, tell me about it”, was the reply he gave.  
“I’ll fill you in briefly but Fred can we meet up soon?”  
“If you can get to the house today I’ll meet you there and you can tell all”.  
“Yes, I’ll come right away, thanks Fred”.  
So they met up and cuddled together on their couch. Ginger sobbed as she told him the story.  
She’d met this man a few times at various dinner parties. She’d fallen, as usual, for his charm and humor. When he’d kissed her a couple of times she’d thought she’d detected a trace of liquor on his breath but he’d told her he was only a social drinker. Within a day of her marriage she’d found bottles stashed around her home so again she’d fallen for the person he could have been rather than the person he was. She didn’t blame Fred for keeping her waiting – no it was solely her fault.  
“No baby, it’s me again. Like they say, ‘I should have closed this deal years ago but I hesitated and, well, here we go again”.  
“I’m a sap”.  
“No you’re not, but what now?”.  
“If I guess, it’ll be what I always do. Try to believe that somehow I can change him, see if I can make him show love for me by giving up the drink, though I know it never happens. Try to make it work somehow”, she drew a deep breath, “Wait for the marriage I really want”.  
He hugged her fiercely, “Oh God Gin, it all boils down to me again doesn’t it? Afraid to make it reality because of other people”.  
“I’ve come to expect nothing less Fred though I’ve hoped and prayed it might happen. I have to get on with my life and be content to share any time I can get with you”.  
And in that moment there was a kind of unspoken agreement that passed between them. The ‘M’ word wouldn’t matter any more. They could and would have that deep and committed lifelong relationship that goes beyond formal paperwork. This was an understanding so deep that Ginger was happily able to say, “Let’s see what the rest of the sixties brings for us”.  
And that decade brought equal pleasure and work. Ginger, knowing her marriage was yet another battlefield which her Christian ethos made her try to accept, threw herself into more TV and stage work to put some perspective into her life She even made a couple of movies though, as she confessed to Fred, they were the sort of films she would rather have not made. The last was based on the life of Jean Harlow and Ginger had taken it on as a favor for her entrepreneur husband. She had mentioned to Fred on first reading the script, “It’s low level slut. How have I got into that?”.  
Fred too had continued with his work in TV and squeezed in a couple of movies too. He had told her though that he’d start to scale back his dancing. Years of toil had resulted in arthritis in his legs and he couldn’t sustain long rehearsal time anymore. Further more he told her, with a wry ironic smile on his lips, “It’s taken me nearly thirty years to understand what you were always telling me. I’m going to see if I can get some dramatic roles and begin to stretch my acting muscles a little”.  
He received a friendly biff for that.  
And as all this happened, curiously, they found more time to be together at their ‘home’.  
Ava was becoming an independent young woman and Ginger’s spouse was hardly a house husband so days and nights could be spent together. If this was to be their marriage in this world so be it because every moment together was the only real part of their lives that had any real meaning. Ginger liked to mother him now and then and he liked to be mothered so they lived in mutual contentment. Their love life was calmer now as they aged but the passion was still there. They had learned though that companionable silence was an important part of sharing a bed. For Fred there was always the joy of watching her sleep and drowning in her perfume and for Ginger it was the comfort of his body and the absolute certainty of his love.  
The phone calls they both took one morning made life even better. They had been asked if they would consider doing a joint presentation during the Oscar ceremonies of 1967. There was no consider about it. They had both said ‘Yes’ immediately.  
When they met up after this they were like little excited kids.  
“Oh baby, they haven’t forgotten about us”.  
“Of course not you idiot, won’t it be fun?”  
“Up on stage, together again”.  
“Makes me happy, she paused, but I’ve just thought of something else”.  
“Go on”.  
“Well why don’t we give them a short twirl or dance before we present the award. Now that’ll be fun”.  
“Na, they don’t want an old timer like me to do that. Definitely no”.  
She knew he was beginning to be more aware of his age so let it be but began hatching a plan.

Soon the evening came round. They arrived separately and were each assigned dressing rooms. She had chosen an almost lapis blue gown that matched her eye color and knew that Fred would approve. Before changing however she had a task to carry out.  
She called at Fred’s room and found both him and Pan sitting opposite each other like a pair of matching bookends. A sly wink to Pan, who was in on the strategy, set her plan in motion.  
“Hi you guys Getting organised?”  
Pan rose to give her a friendly peck on the cheek and laughed as Fred gave her a laconic wave. “When are you two going to go public?”  
Pan was the one person in the world they could trust with their secret.  
“That’s for us to know and you to guess”, Fred replied.  
“Well you’re both in public tonight”.  
“So Fred, Ginger interjected, we’ve got a couple of hours before we need to do anything. What about planning a few steps of dance for the audience?”  
“No way, Fred replied shaking his head, and I’m sure Pan agrees”.  
“Well actually Fred I think that’s a great idea”, Pan said before launching into the speech he had prepared. “You more than anyone Fred owe it to your public. They adored you and Ginger dancing together and those films made you the stars you are today. A few steps, a swirl or a twirl will be a huge thank you to everyone who put you where you are today. After all you’re presenting the writing award as partners, a couple. A small show biz gesture will please them no end, betcha”.  
It worked as Pan and Ginger knew it would. When Fred was undecided about choreography Pan would be his sounding board and he trusted Pan’s instincts completely.  
“Okay, I give up, what do you have in mind Feathers?”  
“Simple Fred. We meet center stage, you take my hand and pull me into you and we just move round in dance hold a few times”.  
“Oh, nothing fancy then”.  
“Of course not you big galoot. Like Pan said, a simple gesture to show our thanks for their support”.  
“Well we don’t have to practise that routine so off you go and make yourself beautiful for the big event”.  
He gave her a hug and a kiss.  
“Thank you old man”.  
Pan led her to the door, leaned for a cheek peck and whispered,”Got him partner”.

Fred thought she looked stunning and told her so as they met up before their slot in the proceedings. They waited in the wings until Bob Hope, emceeing for the night, introduced them. They did what everyone wanted to see -Fred and Ginger dance again. In a heartbeat it was over but the applause was tremendous. Fred’s fleeting thought was,’I’m glad I did this for her’, before they came arm in arm to the podium. Here, in a rare public display of their affection they nuzzled each other and Fred kissed her hand. Whilst Fred was delighted with their reception he saw that she was ecstatic and trembling with excitement at the applause. For him, just then, this was the young, joyous, bubbly girl he first knew in New York. ‘She’s so happy tonight, thank God she’s in my life’ was the overwhelming thought in his mind.  
Her excitement showed as she mistakenly read the words that Fred should have delivered. As she apologised he took her hand to his heart whilst saying aloud to the world the words that showed he cared.  
“Oh boy, my baby”.  
In that moment, in just a few minutes, they were a couple in the eyes of the world and would be for eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back!!!!!!! Who'd have thought an accident nearly four years ago would have so impacted on my life and writing. However many breaks I'm forced to take I'll keep writing.


End file.
